Lesser Yellowlegs - Standing Ground

We had an explosion of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs at Viera Wetlands this past weekend. As they would move around the marsh swallows looking for food, they would come face to face with each other. Some times this resulted in a stand-off that including calling, posturing and as shown below an aggressive assault.

Though I would have preferred the left bird's face to be more visible, the intense action of the shot, the agressive behavior of the right bird and reaction of the left is still exciting. I captured about five such interactions and this was the best. I was shooting low laying at the bank when I noticed this behavior but was not able to effectively shoot it from that position. So I moved to a seated postion, legs in front of me with the tripod set at its lowest level (legs closed and positioned out) so the view is a bit elevated as a result.

I would have worked these shots longer but at this point, three cars pulled up behind me on the berm road. At least two photographers emerged from each car, talking and laughing, and shooting the birds with their 300mm lens. Needless to say, I had gotten to my position after crawling and crouching and the birds had grown used to me and moved in quite close to my position. This only served to push them further away from my position so I called it a day.

All comments and critiques welcome. Thanks for looking.

P.S. I am getting around to posting a report in the Florida Regional Forum. This week has been a bear.